What I learned as a Lutheran

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

How the Program Is Structured

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. Here's Mike Abendroth, and I'm glad you listened. If you do us a favor, could do us a favor, tell your friends, tell your enemies about No Compromise Radio, and have them give us a listen.

Monday through Friday, we have Monday shows. Those are the sermons from Bethlehem Baptist Church. If you want the whole sermons, and you can't wait, or want to watch the videos, bbcchurch .org. Tuesdays, Pastor Steve and I, the Tuesday guy, we talk about church things, have a few laughs.

Wednesdays, I interview people. Thursdays and Fridays, I kind of talk about what I'd like to talk about, whatever comes to my mind. Now, the old shows, maybe they were a little more didactic, and these shows are a little more stream of consciousness, but we try to get her done anyway, so welcome to No Compromise Radio.

The Book on Sexual Fidelity and Who It Is For

Couple of things, we have the book, Sexual Fidelity, No Compromise, is now on Kindle, and you can go to Amazon, type in sexual fidelity. I think the only thing that comes up there is that Kindle book, 30 chapters about sexual fidelity.

The rub that I think happens sometimes is that people think only those who've got sexual deviancy, sexual perversion, sexual black dark sins should read the book, and that would not be true. If those things you struggle with, I would consider reading the book, because it talks about the gospel, and it talks about forgiveness for even sexual sins.

But it's also for those who want to teach their children about the topic, for those that want to stay far away and continue to stay far away from sexual sin, talks about sex in marriage, that is how wonderful it is and how great it is.

A friend told me, he said, I wouldn't have chosen that book to write, because not many people, they're gonna be afraid to order it. You know, if you have it sitting around, people might think you have a problem.

So we'll see. We shall see. I think my mother's been dead now for about 10 years or so. Dear Christian lady, we grew up thinking that our mom was great, and I think she really was. Of course, she was a sinner like anyone else, and she would take us to the Lutheran church.

I think back in the day before the ELC, it was LCA and ELC were the two Lutheran denominations that were the liberal kind. And this church, I believe, was one of those two. And then those two subsections of the denomination or two denominations, I don't know, I don't know technically, they merged into ELCA.

And I went to Calvary Lutheran Church. Then I went to Calvary Chapel, but that's another story. Calvary Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska. And I looked up some of my confirmation stuff, and there seemed to be quite a bit of Bible that I learned, and I'm gonna talk about that in a minute.

But mom wanted to make sure we would go to church and that we were schooled in Christianity. We lived across the street from a Catholic church, St. James. And the nuns across the street, they thought my dad looked like Billy Graham.

If they only knew my dad. My story about the Catholic church across the street, the nuns would put around on this little grassy area with their golf clubs, and it was not a green or anything like that.

And then they would lose their golf balls in the rough. And so we would go over there as kids and we could find a lot of golf balls. I don't know what we did with them. We probably went to try to go sell them back to the nuns.

And I pretty much grew up thinking that sacramental system, sacerdotal system, was exactly like my Lutheran system. And in many respects it was, baptismal regeneration, et cetera. There wasn't much difference between the Catholics and the Lutherans, where I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.

And I would go on missions trips. I would go to Galeana, Mexico, tell the kids about Jesus, backpacking trips to Colorado. I remember one time I went to a retreat and it was kind of a Keith Green type of atmosphere.

And I remember there was a lot of ladies, a lot of girls, 17, 18 years old. I think I was 15. And they were talking about this relationship they had with Jesus. And kind of starry eyed. And we had to kind of go around the room and talk about it.

And I'm thinking, I don't have any idea. Forget this amorous language, Jesus, my boyfriend kind of thing. But any kind of relationship, any type of friendship, any type of, read the Bible. I know I was supposed to read the Bible, but I didn't really know any of that stuff.

And of course, looking back, I don't know how many of those kids were saved, but I certainly was not saved. Well, mom wanted us to make sure we grew up in a Christian home. And then when I moved to California, my brother went to University of Nebraska and there was a navigator's guy who was preaching the gospel to him.

And my brother was seeing his sin. I was in Los Angeles listening to the radio, Christian radio, which is unlike Christian television. Ever ask yourself the question, why is Christian radio often very good?

And why is Christian television usually so awful? Awful can awful. Well, it might be related to stewardship issues and how much bang can you get for your buck on the radio versus the TV. In other words, I don't mean really bang for your buck.

I mean, what kind of reach can you get? And you don't really care if people see your face. It's a different world now. If you go to Worldview Weekend and watch No Compromise Radio's TV show, you know, we do that on a wing and a prayer.

I mean, it is low budget, even though Brannon has to spend a lot of money on the equipment there. But we don't have to pay for the TV time. Anyway, I'm just rambling a little bit here. That's what happens when you have to get up so early.

My daughter yesterday had to go to the court. She was called for jury duty. And I just thought, oh Lord, you know, just please don't let it be some murder, gross kind of thing. And when I picked her up, she said they didn't call me, but I went on, I went up to talk to the judge.

She asked me a lot of questions and told her I was a Christian, et cetera. Anyway, it was some weird murder with a deviancy and sexual aspect to it that I don't want to explain on the radio, but I just thought, Lord, thank you that my daughter didn't have to go through that and to see the pictures and everything else.

Rescue, Conversion, and a Mother’s Faith

Well, my mother got saved probably shortly after I got saved and my brother got saved. So the word preached through the navigator in Nebraska saved my brother, you know, the Lord saved through the word and reading the Bible, going to Calvary Chapel, West Covina and listening to Christian radio, MacArthur, the Lord saved me.

And then shortly after that, my mom got saved, still having a hard time leaving the Lutheran church, but I really think born again. Well, eventually she went to this little startup church called Omaha Bible Church.

My brother started going there. And of course now my brother's the pastor there, Pat Abendroth. He needs to be back on the show. He was writing his dissertation for Ligonier, the doctoral program, and he hasn't been on since.

I know there's some listeners from Omaha Bible Church. Would you please talk to your pastor? Man, that's bad coffee. Wow. Oh, speaking of which, I have one of those Starbucks apps. And if you get, you know, I have a gold card and if you get 12 stars, you get a free drink.

So I was up to 11 and I thought, oh good, you know, I just have to buy another one, but I don't really go that often. I don't know if it was a rumor, a Snopes kind of thing, but remember when the Starbucks big shot said, you know, if you don't believe in gay marriage, I don't want your business.

Well, that kind of, that made it easy for me, number one. Number two, pizza's way better. I don't mean with their social moral standards, but with their coffee taste. So pizza's better. I broke down, I got one of those Nespresso espresso machines at home.

I got one for Christmas. I got the newer one to start, but didn't like it. So kind of got the old school one. I like the grade 12 espresso. I want a bitter. The Indian one isn't bad, but I think I get the Indira.

No, Indira, that's the Indian one, but there's another one, the, I don't know what it is. Anyway, I'm trying to think what we're talking about on No Compromise Radio. I went to Omaha Bible, so my mom got saved.

And then I went to Omaha Bible Church recently for a conference. Let's just turn it back to that and then get to this other topic. Lady came up to me and she said, you know, I miss your mom. Bet you do too, because she, my mom attended Omaha Bible Church where Pat's the pastor.

And she said, you know, today you're preaching and we're singing the song, the last song your mom ever sang in corporate worship before she died. I thought, oh, great. Compose yourself. Mike, meet Composure.

And let me just read the last stanza of the last song my mother ever sang in corporate worship. I'm sure she's singing now. She had a good voice, but she's even got a better voice. I will glory in my Redeemer who carries me on eagle's wings.

He crowns my life with loving kindness. His triumph song I'll ever sing. I will glory in my Redeemer who waits for me at gates of gold. And when he calls me, it will be paradise. His face forever to behold.

His face forever to behold. Stephen, Vicki Cook. Man, that will bring tears to your eyes of the wonderful grace of Jesus. And when I read Galatians chapter one, as he gives an introduction there, grace to you and peace from God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever, amen.

And to think about how my mother was rescued from her sins, my brother's been rescued, I've been rescued. Many people I know have been rescued. And now even forever, I will glory in my Redeemer. That is a wonderful truth.

The Revised Standard Version and What Was Underlined in the Lutheran Bible

Well, I have in front of me here on No Compromise Radio, by the way, you can always write us info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you want the book, the new book, you've got to go to nocompromiseradio .com for the hard copy.

It's not a hard cover, but a hard copy, paper copy. And you can go get the Kindle copy on Amazon. I'm working on another book right now, Evangelical White Lies. I don't know, 60 ,000 words I'm up to. I think I'm done.

I thought it was done at 30, but I've added some other stuff and I'm gonna get some editing done and then I might try a different way to publish this one. We're just trying a variety. The first couple of books were published by day one, then Harvest House, then Zondervan, then No Comedia.

I'm gonna try another different way here. Different, it's a different way. I have in front of me my Bible when I was at the Lutheran Church. And the rest of the show, we're gonna talk about this Revised Standard Version Bible, not the particulars and inside deals about the Revised Standard Version, first edition, second edition, but just what I might think about when I have this Bible.

And I loved this Bible. I mean, it was one of those, let's see, was it Thomas Nelson? Thomas Nelson, Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version compared with the most ancient authorities and revived, 1952. In the front, it says this Holy Bible is presented to, there's my mother's writing, family history, which is interesting.

Record a record of baptism in church membership. And then my friends at church. And I must have gotten mad at them because Gordon Kuhl was one of them. Now that's a pretty good name for a kid, K-O-O-L, except you think of cigarettes.

Remember smoking Kuhl cigarettes, that'll kill you. And the other one here is Paul Dewis. Gordon Kuhl or Paul Dewis, if you listen to No Compromise Radio, you've got to write me. I've got to talk to you.

And see what happened. Well, this is a full Bible. And I guess my mom bought it for me. And when I first got it, I loved the pictures. There was a picture of Jesus with Moses and Elijah and said Matthew 17, the transfiguration.

And it showed the other three disciples bowing down. It has a picture of blind Bartimaeus at the feet of Jesus. And he's got his hands up, that is blind Bart does. And Jesus is about ready to touch his eyes.

I think there's one here of Daniel in the lion's den. Yes, Daniel in the lion's den. And there's some skulls. See, that's why I like skulls. And rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah four. We have a picture of Joseph in prison and tripping the dream, the crossing of the Red Sea.

And I kind of started off liking those. So when I found this Bible, I thought, you know, that'll be interesting when I was 12, 13, 15 years old, what did I underline in my Bible? I don't know about you, but I have my mom's old Bibles and some loved one's old Bibles, Kim's grandmother's old Bible.

And what did they underline? What was important to them? In the Neo-Orthodoxian, Karl Barthian way, which verses came alive to them? Just kidding. I heard it once said, what verses in the Bible don't you underline?

And what does that tell you? It tells me that this is bad coffee. Man, that is awful. There's a Keurig here. Man, it just, somebody gave me the whole Hebrews thing. I'm teaching Hebrews and you know, it's a coffee cup Hebrews.

I just thought, you're dumb. That's what I thought. I didn't say it. In my mind, I said in Hebrews, like, you're so dumb. By the way, I say that with all, you know, he's a good people. I say that all the time to myself.

You're so dumb, Mike. How dumb can you be? I mean, you're just so dumb. So if I say it about myself, then you don't really mind as much. I went to the New Testament to see what I might have thought would be important.

And these were days, of course, that I was not saved. But I'm thankful that I had some religious background in Christianity. You know, there's different ways you could look at this. Say, well, I grew up Roman Catholic.

I grew up Lutheran. I grew up Methodist. And if you're saved, it's amazing to see how God used things in your background as he drew you to himself. Prayers of people, Bible preaching, radio, you know, that type of thing.

Well, I'm glad I was taught some of the Bible. I mean, when I left the Lutheran church, I moved to Los Angeles in early 83. My mom said there was a good church to go to in Fullerton. I was pretty close to Fullerton, being in Anaheim at the time.

And she said, Chuck Swindoll is the pastor. And I went there and I loved my sin. And it had nothing to do with Chuck's preaching. It had everything to do with my sin. I didn't really keep driving up very often.

I still thought it was the right thing to do. I would call myself a Christian, go to church a few times. And I'm glad that I had a background in the Christian faith. And I would say, there's one God. He subsists in three persons.

Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Bible is the Bible. There's no other book inspired by God. Jesus literally walked on water. Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was raised from the dead. My problem, like the Galatians problem, was I thought the benefits that Jesus Christ earned and accomplished were given to me through sacraments.

That's basically the Galatian heresy. That's how I thought I received them. And of course, that makes them unreceivable because they're through faith alone. But having the Bible here, I did some underlining and some highlighting and turning it to the book of John.

And I'm just kind of randomly turning these things through it. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. Underlined in my Bible. I mean, of course, everything I read from this Bible is true, but that is amazing.

Underlined in my Bible, whoever believes in him, chapter three, may have eternal life. Underlined in my Bible, he who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.

Underlined in my Bible, no one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven. John chapter three. I turned the page, John four. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.

The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. And I just think to myself, I was taught all these things. I read all these things. I underlined these things.

I still wasn't saved, but now I look back and I'm thankful I had such an education. Truly, truly, I say to you, John six, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. All underlined, and quite a bit more in John chapter six.

Underlined, John chapter 10. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. Amazing, John 14. I am the way. This is underlined with a different underliner to make it more emphatic.

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. Amazing. It's just amazing to me that the Lord would have me learn these things. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

I turn to the book of Acts and I see more underlined. There is salvation in no one else and there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, I don't know if I want to play shrink or just make an observation, but even this cursory look at what I've underlined in the gospels and now in Acts, it's all the belief passages.

It's all the equivalent of a Romans road passage. I wonder if I even went to Romans, I'd probably find the Romans road. Fascinating. I'm not trying to say the Bible is taught rightly by the Lutheran church, but some of the Bible is taught and anyone can just read it and go, oh yeah, oh, here we go.

Romans chapter, I didn't do 116, but chapter three, verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Chapter five, verse eight, but God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

For if we were enemies, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more. Now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? For the wages of sin is death and the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Faith comes, so faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. By the way, that's a good translation right there in the RSVP. Anything else in Romans? That is just amazing to me.

That is amazing to me. No temptation has taken you that is not common to man. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with a temptation will also provide the way of escape.

And I've got a few love is passages there. So in my Bible here, in the Lutheran church, I learned quite a bit. By grace, Ephesians two, you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not because of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in him. I find it of great interest that when I was studying the Bible in the Lutheran church and went regularly, like I said, backpacking trips, trips to Mexico for evangelism, all the while not being saved, I was drawn to these passages about belief.

And I thank God that he gave me a background where I was familiar with the Bible. How many people now, I don't care if you go to India or Africa or Vermont, people are so biblically illiterate. And to think of the words grace and mercy and resurrection and miracle, to think supernatural things happen.

You need to reread Christianity and liberalism by Machen. There's supernatural things that happen. And I affirmed all those. I would not deny the Lord Jesus. I don't know if a gun was put to my head what I would say, but my guess is I would have said, I still believe.

Fascinating. What I was not taught was faith alone. What I was not taught was there's a faith that doesn't save. There's a saving faith and there's a faith that doesn't save. I thought all faith was the same.

I had no idea even with Acts 16, 31, believe unto the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. So what about you? Think you're a Christian? Do you have saving faith? Does the Lord Jesus Christ have you?

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write us info at nocompromiseradio .com or go to NoCoRadio and listen to the latest podcast.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.